Something Ventured: La Posada

Posada siblings dish up a childhood love for Latin American cooking

The siblings behind La Posada discovered a love of food at a young age in their home country of El Salvador.

“I grew up around food,” Joe Posada says. “Living at home was like living at a restaurant, there was so much food, so much dessert. I was cooking when I was little, I was already baking when I was 7 or 8.”

Joe and his sister, Yenny, translated this appreciation for family-style cooking into the Magoun Square restaurant, working side-by-side as they had in their childhood.

When the siblings bought the restaurant that they later rebranded as La Posada, they intended to open an additional restaurant and each manage their own kitchen. Instead, the pair stuck together, and three years later expanded La Posada into a larger space just down the street.

“We joined into this bigger project knowing that we would be able to offer better service,” Joe says. “It’s been so smooth and perfect. It’s like a machine. I’m doing my thing, she’s doing her thing.”

La Posada’s ever-changing menu features a fresh spin on food from up to nine different Latin American countries, expanding on the Posadas’ Salvadoran roots.

“We wanted to do a fusion of Latin American food, collect the recipes from different countries in Latin America,” Joe says. “Sticking to one country, to me, is like limiting myself. People have loved the concept of having more than one country all together.”

The restaurant balances traditional Latin American comfort foods of rice, beans, and different meats with eclectic dishes like Brazilian style empanadas and Puerto Rican tostones. It also offers made-to-order Salvadoran dishes, including pupusas. The pancake-sized dough pupusas are typically grilled with an assortment of cheese, vegetables, meat, and beans, but La Posada also offers vegetarian and vegan options.

“The area has grown so much with vegetarian and vegan people that we’re trying to evolve with what the community wants,” Joe says. “We’ve managed to grow in the direction that people want, and we’re passionate about what we do. We’re always trying to bring something new to the table, we want people to experience the way we cook at home.”

Joe says he believes new dishes and innovative combinations are what keep loyal customers returning for meals.

“They get excited about everything we do, because they want to try something new from the place they love,” Joe says.